Love for the Loners
by Marcus S. Lazarus
Summary: Harry and Ginny stay behind on a Hogsmeade weekend


Disclaimer: I own NOTHING. Got that?  
  
Feedback: Wouldn't mind it, but I'm not begging anyone.  
  
A.N.- These and some other short stories of mine should be regarded as prologues for my story 'The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen 2004', detailing how certain members of my modern LXG ended up like they did in that story. Other examples to date include my Angel/Buffy romance 'Precious Memories', although more may be done later.  
  
A Pairing of the Souls  
  
Ginny Weasley groaned as she got out of bed, and gave another groan as she saw her clock. She'd overslept, and overslept by quite a bit; it was almost two hours after the time she normally woke up. Still, it could have been worse; it was a weekend, so at least she wasn't late for any classes.  
  
Then she noticed the date, and she felt a little better. It was a Hogsmeade weekend; she hadn't been thinking of going to the village anyway, so at least she wouldn't have anyone else bothering her today.  
  
Still, she wished her reasons for not going were what they were. Oh, she could lie and say that it was because she had homework to do, but the real reason was far more personal; these days, all her friends only went to Hogsmeade on dates, and she'd just recently ended things with her last boyfriend, Dean Thomas, and didn't feel like watching other people having fun in their relationships.  
  
Then there was the reason for her ending things with Dean to take into account. Namely, the fact that, no matter what she'd said to everyone else, she still had feelings for her first crush.  
  
Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived. She may have given up on him last year, but that didn't mean she'd stopped caring for him. She couldn't stop herself thinking about him every time she did certain things. When she went shopping for candy in Hogsmeade, she found herself thinking what Harry's favourite one was. When she was doing her DADA homework, she kept on thinking about what spells Harry would use in certain situations. Even when she'd been kissing her old boyfriends, she'd been unable to stop herself wondering if this was what kissing Harry would be like.  
  
Deciding that she might as well get out of bed, Ginny got up and began to pull her robes on.  
  
*****  
  
As she walked down the steps that led from the girl's dormitories to the common room, Ginny noticed someone sitting in a chair opposite the fire, their back to her. She smiled; to tell the truth, she wouldn't mind a spot of company right now.  
  
However, that changed slightly when she walked forward a bit more and saw exactly WHO was sitting there.  
  
Harry.  
  
She went over her options in her head quickly. Since she was at least able to talk to him as a friend these days, there wouldn't be the huge embarrassment of her doing something clumsy in front of him, and he'd probably be able to help her with her homework. On the negative side, she'd both heard of and read about too many occasions where people accidentally let their secrets slip when talking to someone, and didn't want it to happen to her.  
  
Then again, what were the odds of that happening?  
  
"Harry, hi," she said to him, smiling as she sat down in the chair opposite him.  
  
Harry started and looked over in her direction. He relaxed when he saw who it was, however.  
  
"Ginny?" he said, puzzled. "I wasn't expecting you here. Why aren't you at Hogsmeade?"  
  
"I just didn't feel like going, really," Ginny replied, as she stretched slightly in the chair. "I mean, everyone else would have had a date, and you've heard about my breaking up with Dean, right?" Harry nodded. "Well, I just didn't really want it thrown in my face that I'm single and all of my friends aren't. So, I decided I might as well just stay here and catch up on some homework." She then grinned a little. "Plus, I overslept."  
  
Harry smiled at that. "That's pretty much the reason I stayed behind," he said. "In fact, both of your reasons for staying here are pretty much my own."  
  
Ginny nodded a little at that comment. She knew what Harry meant; even Ron had gotten a girlfriend recently. The fact that it was Hermione had just made Harry start to feel a bit left out; whenever he went somewhere with them these days, he just felt like a third wheel to their dates.  
  
"So, got any ideas as to what we should do?" Ginny asked, looking over at Harry after the two of them had just been sitting in their seats for a few minutes.  
  
"Well, normally I'd suggest chess, but I'm not sure where Ron's left his board, and I don't have any pieces of my own anyway," Harry replied. "So, looks like our only other option is homework."  
  
Ginny got up at that comment. "I'll get mine down," she said, getting up out of her seat. "After all, it should be fairly easy for you; you've probably already done it already."  
  
"Except the Defence Against the Dark Arts stuff, of course," Harry pointed, smiling.  
  
Ginny laughed at that. It was true; the current Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher these days did a far better job of it than Umbridge had ever done. Fortunately, given that Harry's DA lessons had managed to keep the all up to speed, not everyone was as far behind as they could have been.  
  
"Oh, I don't know about that," she said, grinning at him. "Let's just see what the homework for that topic actually is before we start assuming you'll be rubbish at it. I'll be back in a moment."  
  
Then she turned around and walked back upstairs.  
  
*****  
  
After about half an hour, the two of them had made quite a bit of progress with their homework. Ginny hadn't had a great deal of homework for History of Magic, and even with the fact that it wasn't the best subject of either of them, the two of them had managed to finish it fairly quickly.  
  
Right now, they were meant to be getting one with some more work, but somehow they had gotten themselves involved in a conversation on the subject of all the various relationships in the school.  
  
"You're kidding me, right?" Harry asked, laughing a little as he looked up at Ginny. "Neville and... and LUNA?!"  
  
"I know!" Ginny smiled, chuckling along with him. "Who'd have thought it, huh? Half the time I get the impression at least one of them doesn't know what the other's talking about!"  
  
"Well, at least it's not as weird as... as..." Harry began, his voice trailing off a little as he spoke.  
  
"Yes?" Ginny asked looking over at him curiously.  
  
"As... Cho and Michael?" Harry said, slightly half-heartedly.  
  
Ginny simply nodded. She knew what he meant; their two exes just seemed such complete opposites to each other that it was a miracle that they could keep any kind of relationship going.  
  
"You know what I sometimes think?" she said, looking over at Harry.  
  
"What?" Harry asked.  
  
"I think they're just trying to find out what type the two of us go for," Ginny said, speaking in a very casual manner and not really paying attention to what she was saying. "I just heard Michael say once that he thought you liked me, so, y'know, probably Cho heard somewhere that I still like you-"  
  
Ginny covered up her mouth in horror as that slipped out.  
  
Dammit! she thought to herself. She'd just done exactly what she'd been afraid of doing.  
  
She'd let her secret slip.  
  
"Um... Harry?" she said, looking over at the boy in front of her. Harry's jaw had dropped and he was staring at her with an expression that put Ginny in mind of a dying fish; it was opening and closing in disbelief.  
  
"Can I just say 'whoops', and we both forget that ever passed my lips?" Ginny asked, looking over at Harry with a slightly pleading expression on her face.  
  
It didn't look like that was going to be enough.  
  
Eventually, Harry managed to get a word in edgeways. "But... but didn't you tell Hermione you gave up on me?"  
  
Ginny was slightly confused. Harry almost sounded... wistful. But...  
  
No that was ridiculous...  
  
Wasn't it?  
  
She sighed, and decided that she might as well commit herself to it. "Harry," she said, leaning forward a little as she spoke. "I said that I 'gave up on you'. I never said I got over you. There is a difference."  
  
Harry slowly nodded, as though thinking about that. Then, he looked up at her with a slight smile on his lips.  
  
"You wouldn't mind if I just tested something, would you?" he asked, looking at her curiously.  
  
"Well, no..." Ginny said, slightly puzzled as to what he was thinking.  
  
The question was answered when Harry leaned over and kissed her on the lips.  
  
Ginny couldn't believe it. The boy she'd been in love with for as long as she could remember was actually kissing her...  
  
And it was incredible. There was no other word for it. Michael and Dean had both been good kissers, she wouldn't deny that, but Harry... the mere touch of lips felt like a massive surge of electricity had passed through her entire body.  
  
As they parted, Ginny could only utter one word.  
  
"Wow..."  
  
"'Wow' is accurate, Ginny," Harry said, as he looked her in the eyes. "Do I really need to say that I love you too?"  
  
"Well, no, but I'm not objecting to hearing it," Ginny said, smiling as she and Harry kissed again. She made a mental note to try and sleep in more often if things like this were going to happen when she did. 


End file.
